Columbus, you might have noticed that outside your lovely burg, it's been all Paterno, all the time.
Suddenly, hip replacements are as cool as botox. Don't be surprised to soon see coaches take the press out of the press box. With Joe working his magic from up above, suddenly the club level is the new sideline.
Are there paparazzi for 81-year-olds? Let's just say they have been warned.
Short of actual stalking, the Penn State coach's weekly musings on the Big Ten conference call have become required listening.
"A lot of days I'm in some pain," Paterno said this week.
God love him. Get WWL to 81 and it will take its chances.
There is another side, though, to the largest Large Eleven game in two years.
Remember the Buckeyes? Big stadium. Their coach likes his arms cold. The Bucks were dismissed, disparaged and just plain dissed on Sept. 13. That was the date of that hideous 32-point loss to USC.
At least Ohio State was going to spare us the lingering drama and bow out early. Well, the BCS came to the rescue. The Bucks haven't lost since and debuted at No. 9 in the first BCS standings.
If you think they're out of it, the SEC would like to have a word with you. Win the SEC and No. 10 Florida or No. 13 LSU are going to lay a claim to the BCS title game.
So why not Ohio State?
If it beats Penn State on Saturday, it will have the inside track to its third consecutive outright Big Ten title. That has never been done in the 103-year history of the league. Ever hear of the Big One and Little Ten? Not until now.
If Ohio State seals the deal, Jim Tressel's recent dominance of the league would have to qualify as a conference mini-dynasty. At least Bo and Woody battled it out. The Big Ten hasn't put up much of a fight these past three seasons. Ohio State is 19-1 in the conference since 2006. The only loss was last season to Illinois.
In that time, Penn State (13-7) is one of only four Big Ten teams above .500 in the conference. Michigan (14-5) is No. 2.
If it hasn't happened already, Ohio State is about to establish itself as a superpower of this decade -- at least in conference play. Pete Carroll has won at least a share of seven consecutive Pac-10 titles. Miami lost one game in its last four years in the Big East. Florida State's dominance of the ACC lasted 14 seasons, from 1992-2005.
All four teams have won national championships in the last 10 years. So why is Ohio State so reviled? Well, 35-3 doesn't help matters. Neither do back-to-back title game flops.
You can almost anticipate a long, loud national groan if the Bucks win Saturday. Not again.
Nothing against Team Tressel but the media is always a sucker for new -- well, old -- stories.
Joe Paterno qualifies as both.
The case for Arizona I: WWL just got done watching the Cal-Arizona replay. The List was feeling a little regret about picking 'Zona over USC this week.
After a second-half blitz of Cal, Mike Stoops sort of/almost/maybe looks like he is turning around the 'Cats. Arizona and Oregon State (both 3-1 in the league) are the only two teams that control their destiny in the Pac-10.
USC? Developing a road phobia.
This is easily the biggest game in Tucson in 10 years. In Stoops' five seasons, folks maybe didn't expect Rose Bowl but they expected a bowl.
In that time Stoops went from next-hot-model brother of Bob Stoops to hot head, at times, on the hot seat.
'Zona can still be 'Zona, though. Despite being 5-2, the 'Cats' two losses are to New Mexico (committing five turnovers) and Stanford (by one point after a third-string quarterback ran for the winning touchdown).
The case for Arizona II: Hope sprang Saturday from Keola Antolin, a 5-foot-7 true freshman tailback from Las Vegas.
After Nic Grigsby fumbled on his first carry, Stoops inserted Antolin, who ran for 149 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona claims it was in first on Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers but ended up landing Antolin, who comes from the same Las Vegas high school (Bishop Gorman) as Oklahoma's DeMarco Murray.
The case for Arizona III: Arizona is averaging 40.4 points per game behind Willie Tuitama, who has 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions. The argument can be made that USC hasn't faced a quarterback like Tuitama:
• Virginia's Peter Lalich started against USC in the opener then was kicked off the team before transferring to Oregon State.
• Ohio State's Todd Boeckman lost his job to Terrelle Pryor.
• Arizona State's Rudy Carpenter was hobbled by a sore ankle in a 28-0 loss.
• Washington State's Kevin Lopina returned from a broken bone in his back, throwing only nine times in a 69-0 loss.
Flagged down: If you're looking for a national championship dark horse, pick the most-penalized team in the country.
Georgia is last in this week's NCAA stats, averaging 9.86 penalties per game. That's a good thing considering the last two national champions have been among the most undisciplined.
Florida was last in 2006, averaging 8.29 penalties. LSU was 117th last season (third worst) with 8.36 flags per game.
SEC shakeout: If you squint hard enough you can already see Florida and LSU in a rematch for the SEC title six weeks from now.
Saturday begins the separation process. Neither LSU nor Georgia can afford a second conference loss when they meet in Baton Rouge. After Saturday, the Tigers have the advantage of playing away from home only once more (at Arkansas, Nov. 28). Georgia begins a streak of four consecutive games away from Athens.
Alabama, the SEC's only undefeated team, will play what could be the conference's game of the year Nov. 8 at LSU.
The usual SEC scandals, rumors and nuggets: Fired Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin went on Alabama radio this week saying he still has no idea why he was let go.
"They fired a real good coach before me," Franklin said of Al Borges.
Franklin has a point. Since finishing undefeated in 2004, Auburn has finished 37th, 76th, 97th and (currently) 107th in total offense. Tommy Tuberville didn't help his chances Thursday night when the Tigers got blown out in the second half by West Virginia.
• The loss of man mountain nose tackle Terrence Cody shouldn't hurt Alabama (at Tennessee) that much. The 365-pounder (sprained knee) will be replaced by 305-pound redshirt freshman Josh Chapman.
• Why isn't Tennessee's Eric Berry being used more on offense? A former high school quarterback, Berry has averaged 39.7 yards per interception return in his career and is arguably the best athlete on the offense-starved team. Just a guess, but expect to see more of Berry on offense against Alabama.
Walk tall walk-on: Clear away the empty pizza boxes and dead soldiers (that's empty beer bottles for those of you not in college). No more Schlitz Malt Liquor pony kegs, at least not on game days.
Matt Williams is in the hizzee.
Williams was your average college student (see above) until a month ago. He earned a tryout at Texas Tech after booting a 30-yard field goal to win a year's free rent during an in-game promotion.
Williams could see action when the Red Raiders travel to Kansas. Texas Tech has missed 10 placement kicks (six extra points, four field goals) this season.
Colt is a hoss: Colt McCoy (vs. Oklahoma State) has been so damn efficient that he is close to an NCAA season record halfway through the season.
Texas' quarterback has missed only 37 throws all season (160 of 197) on his way to an 81.2 percent completion percentage. If he keeps on his current pace (28.1 throws per game), McCoy could complete less than two-thirds of his passes the remainder of the season and still break Daunte Culpepper's single-season percentage record (73.6 percent).
Texas' season is essentially at its halfway point at 7-0 if you assume the 'Horns will play in the Big 12 title game and a bowl game. That makes 14 games. McCoy would have to complete only 131 of 197 throws the rest of the way (66.5 percent) to finish at 73.8 percent.
Willingham wilt: Where was Notre Dame in 2004 when its coach was on the hot seat? Tyrone William was out after leading the Irish to the Insight Bowl (at 6-5).
Oh, so now the Domers are going to step up? With a victory Saturday in Seattle, Notre Dame (4-2) could be responsible for getting Willingham (0-6 with Washington) fired twice.
They make you actually read textbooks too! You get the feeling there was a time when missing class practically got you on the honor roll at FSU.
What, you cut ONLY one class? Congratulations, son.
Certainly not now with the NCAA bearing down on the program. Bert Reed was scapegoated, er, penalized this week for missing classes. That's plural, so at FSU it must be semi-serious stuff.
Bobby Bowden announced this week before the showdown with Virginia Tech that Reed, the third-leading receiver, was out.
"I'm afraid some people were making too much out of it," Bowden told reporters.
Yeah, especially since FSU is waiting for the NCAA to pronounce sentence on it for that little academic fraud dust-up last season.
Call Reed a "victim" of "stricter" academic guidelines put in place by president T.K. Wetherell.
ACC excellence, such as it is: Until last week Frank Beamer was the all-time winningest active ACC coach.
Yes, Beamer, in his fifth ACC season, had surpassed Bowden, in his 17th. Bowden (110-21, .840) shot back ahead, though, after Virginia Tech's loss to Boston College. At 29-6 in conference games, Beamer dropped to .829. If Tech is able to beat FSU in a key conference game this week the coaches would be tied at .833.
They are the only two active coaches on the ACC's all-time top 10.
Take all that with a grain of seasoning. Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson is currently third among active ACC coaches with a .750 winning percentage. He is 3-1.
Head hunting means heads are going to roll: It must be that time of year when Chuck Neinas is cranking up the ol' rotary dial. The New York Times reported this week that coach headhunter Neinas had been hired by Syracuse.
The Times also reported that the school had identified UConn's Randy Edsall as a top candidate. But why would Edsall leave the Huskies for a worse program?
Cutcliffe to Tennessee? Just so you know, that University of Tennessee plane landing in Raleigh this week was not to talk to Duke's coach. Everybody on board with that?
The smartest man in the room: Big Ten commish Jim Delany this week quietly agreed to a contract extension through June 2013.
That roughly matches the length of the next BCS TV deal. Insert irony here. Please stifle any -- and WWL means any -- talk of a playoff, Big Ten expansion or his conference's decline with Delany in control.
The CBSSports.com most relevant person in college football in 2004, Delany is at times bold, brash, arrogant, but always innovative (see the Big Ten Network) and always smarter than you.
Friday walk-through
- Eighteen of the 25 SEC games this season have been decided by 10 points or less. That's easily the largest ratio of close games (72 percent) among I-A leagues.
- USC has outscored opponents 138-0 since falling behind Oregon on Oct. 4. Its back-to-back shutouts are the first since 1971.
- Texas Tech has its own Burma Road coming up. Starting Saturday it plays ranked teams in its next four games (No. 19 Kansas, No. 1 Texas, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Oklahoma).
